The cloud acquisition gives CenturyLink, the nation's third-largest telco, Savvis' foothold as a hosting and cloud computing provider and enables it to bulk up its presence in a cloud computing market that Forrester Research predicts will reach $241 billion come 2020, said CenturyLink CEO Glen F. Post III in a conference call announcing the acquisition. CenturyLink has agreed to buy Savvis for $2.5 billion in cash and stock and to assume or refinance Savvis' $700 million debt.

“We are creating a premiere managed hosting and managed services provider," Post said, adding that Savvis will operate as its own entity.

Post said that the cloud services and managed hosting businesses are expected to have an annual growth rate of 20 percent for the next few years and adding Savvis to the mix will give CenturyLink a bigger stake in that market.

"By combining with a managed hosting and cloud services leader, we will be able to accelerate organic growth plans," he said, adding that CenturyLink will be able to tackle the management and cloud needs of its growing cadre of enterprise customers.

Meanwhile, Savvis CEO Jim Ousley said it will benefit from the capital backing from CenturyLInk as it shifts toward offering more managed services and targeting the cloud. Ousley said Savvis generates 34 percent of revenue from managed services, 38 percent from collocation and 28 percent from network services and 83 percent of its business is in North America.

The deal is expected to close on the second half of this year.

For industry watchers, CenturyLink's entrance in the cloud market signals a changing tide and is a harbinger for an era where massive service providers own the cloud.

"It just makes sense that the service providers would be the first to capitalize on the cloud," said Vanessa Alvarez, a Forrester Research analyst. "At the end of the day, they know how to run networks and that's the foundation of the cloud."

Bulking up their cloud presences through acquisition is the safest method for service providers and telcos, Alvarez said, as the cloud providers they're buying already have established client bases and the infrastructure to support them.

NEXT: Cable Companies, Telcos Are Cloud Of The FutureAdding St. Louis-based Savvis to its ranks will enable CenturyLink, traditionally a telephone carrier, to scale globally as a managed hosting and collocation provider, it will also fuel CenturyLink's ability to offer managed hosting and cloud services. Post said that, combined, the companies will operate 48 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia with more than 1.9 million square feet of gross floor space; a national network of 207,000 route miles; and a 190,000-mile global access network. Together CenturyLink and Savvis will boast a customer list flush with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies.

"Cable and telcos, that's the business model that the cloud fits," said Jeff Hine, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "They know how to take massive infrastructure and deliver it by the drip."

Additionally, adding smaller cloud and hosting providers to their arsenals gives large providers the ability to move both up and down market commercially, and also add new services with which to target consumers. Hine said he foresees telcos offering "grand slam" options versus their current "triple play" service offerings by adding cloud computing services to the cable, phone and Internet packages.

"It's going to be interesting," he said. "This is going to shake out in a big way."

Paul Burns, president of cloud analyst firm Neovise, called CenturyLink's Savvis acquisition a smart buy, but was cautious about saying telcos will own the cloud.

"I can't conclude yet that the telcos are going to be the key players here," Burns said, adding that their deep pockets and ability to acquire make a strong case in their favor, as does their ability to offer more services than just cloud. "People are starting to realize cloud isn't just pure cloud."

Paul Hilbert, partner at Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based solution provider Network Doctor, said he also couldn't determine if large service providers will own the cloud in the future. He said he foresees a mix of the big boys and smaller providers.

"There are going to be a lot more players out there providing cloud services," he said. Hilbert said the bigger companies could drive down the price of smaller providers, like Network Doctor and since many decisions ride on price, that could have a major market impact.

Alvarez said telcos will be the main cloud providers in the country going forward, as long as they can adapt to cloud business models.

"They will be cloud service providers," she said. "Will they be leading? Will they be the best? That depends on if they can change their business models. It's one thing to buy yourself into a market. It's another thing to run it successfully."